


hurt me

by Digitallywriting



Series: It must be love-Harringrove short stories [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Billy knows he's loved, Canon-Typical Violence, Cute, Derogatory Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Will Byers, Good Babysitter Steve Harrington, Homophobic Language, Light Angst, Light Smut, M/M, Oneshot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period-Typical Racism, Soulmates, neil hargrove dies horribly in one, sometimes monsters, steve the babysitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 18:09:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20440271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digitallywriting/pseuds/Digitallywriting
Summary: Steve and Robin had been kidnapped by the Russians. With nowhere else to turn, Dustin and Erica end up knocking on Billy Hargrove's door.





	hurt me

Steve slammed the door shut, heaving in a breath at the brief pause in the chase. Dustin and Erica ran ahead, while Steve and Robin stayed with their backs pinned against the door. The Russian guards thudded against it and Steve's feet slipped forward a little. Erica opened the hatch under the floor and Dustin glanced warily over to the two of them.

"Come on!" He exclaimed. Steve shook his head.

"No, go! We'll hold them off," he replied. Robin grunted against the force of the several men breaking the door down on the other side. Erica climbed down, not wasting any time. Dustin was about to close the lid of the hatch when Steve stopped him.

"Wait! Find Billy." Dustin nodded and disappeared down the hatch. Robin frowned over at Steve; he had not had the opportunity to tell Robin about Billy. Despite the fact that he was out, for the most part, as bi, he could never bring himself to tell her, out of the fear that she would shun him. He silently promised himself that if they got out of this, he would tell her everything.

The door slammed again and the two of them jolted forward from the force. Robin lost her balance and Steve let go of the door to stop her from falling. He grabbed her wrist, steadying her, but quickly realised his error as the door flew off its hinges. Steve stumbled forward, pulling Robin along with him. The men started yelling in incoherent Russian. The largest one, balding with a bushy grey moustache, advanced on the two of them, while several others surrounded them, blocking any signs of escape. The man grinned at them, flashing yellow teeth.

"Gotcha."

Billy thought the rapid knocking at the front door was thunder at first. Barely discernable over his music playing out his radio on full volume, he only knew it was knocking when his father blew down his bedroom door. Billy sat up on his bed, a questioning look on his face.

"Get the fucking door," Neil ordered. Billy stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the fact that his dad had just walked from the living up to his room to tell him to open the door. Billy slid off the bed.

"Yes, sir." He was not in a fighting mood.

He brushed past Neil with ease, careful not to directly touch him, as he would take that as a challenge.

"Just a minute!" He ordered the person at the door, who would not. Stop. Knocking. Who could even be calling at this hour? In the pouring rain. He yanked the door open, a spray of rain hitting you in the face.

"What!" He demanded before he had even seen who it was. Dustin Henderson and a little black girl stood on his porch, dripping. Billy rolled his eyes and went to shut the door, but the brat stuck his foot in the way.

"Ow," he complained quietly.

"Oh for the love of…" He shut the door behind him and shoved the kids of the porch and onto the front lawn. "What the hell do you want? You know, just cus I'm dating your babysitter don't mean you're allowed to show up at my door whenever you want."

"You have to listen to me-" Dustin began.

"Uh, no, I don't have to do shit. Now get out of my face."

The little girl stepped forward, nudging a frantic Dustin out of the way. Despite her small stature, she stunk of confidence.

"Listen here you large, mullet-y freak. Your boyfriend and his Scoops buddy are trapped in an underground Russian base. We need your help to get them out, and Dustin said you could hold yourself in a fight."

"Yeah yeah really fucking funny," Billy scoffed.

"Hey, I'm serious, butt-munch! You want Steve to die slowly and horribly at the hands of angry Russians?"

"Erica!" Dustin exclaimed horrified.

Billy, not sure what the hell was going on, figured he'd humour the kids.

"Sure fine, whatever. I don't want Harrington dead. Let me grab my coat." He turned to grab his jacket off the hanger, but Erica grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door.

"We don't have time!" She screamed and started yanking him away. Already his head and shoulders had become drenched in the rain. These children owed him big time if they weren't about to lead him to an actual Russian underground base. They started parading Billy down the street.

"Did you not drive here?" Billy shouted over the roar of the rain.

"We're too young to drive."

Billy stopped walking.

"Just take my car then. We'll get there quicker."

"You're serious? You actually believe us?" Dustin asked.

"What? No, of course, I don't believe you, I'd just prefer not to walk in the pouring rain."

He shovelled the kids into the car, refusing to let either of them sit shotgun. He listened impatiently to their shouting directions. He took quick left turns after quick left turns, driving at least twenty over the limit. He was one of the only few cars out on the road, due to the fact that no-one else in their right mind would be out at this time of night in the heaving rain. Both kids had quietened down somewhat after the last right turn, and Billy slowed down, driving steadily down the road until the Starcourt Mall came into view.

"Are you kidding?" He muttered.

"No, we are not kidding!" Dustin said.

Billy pulled into space haphazardly and switched the engine off. He turned around in his chair to glare at the kids.

"You wanna break into the mall?"

"I wanna save Steve and Robins ass!"

Erica opened her door and jumped. She didn't hesitate to start running towards the back entrance of the mall. Dustin followed her and Billy, reluctant to let these children run wild around the closed Mall.

The back storage entrance was strangely lit up, the doors open, just waiting for two bratty children to come around and fuck shit up.

"In here," Dustin pointed to one of the open storage containers. Billy stepped to examine the open boxes filled with metal containers. He lifted one of them up; green liquid with a strange consistency bubbled up inside it.

"What the-"

The door slid shut. there was a loud clanging and then Billy was thrown back into one of the attached metal shelves. The metal cannister slipped out of his hand and fell out of his hand, smashing on the ground and shattering the glass. Dustin yelped and stumbled backwards.

"Don't be such a big baby," Erica said. Billy sat slumped on the floor, watching the green slime fizz through the floor, leaving a hole.

"What the fuck."

"Do you believe us now?" Erica asked.

"I believe that there's an elevator under the Mall. I believe that I don't want that green shit anywhere near me."

The elevator falling was starting to make him lightheaded. What if what the kids were saying was true? As far fetched and bat shit crazy as it seemed, it also made a weird amount of sense. Harrington had always been reserved and secretive with Billy about places he was going and what he was doing. He hung around the kids too much to be normal, but if he was in on them about this weird Russian shit, then he guessed it made sense. And if he was down there being hurt right now, Billy felt he could only blame himself: for not believing the kids straight away. He could have lost the precious time he needed.

Anxious and worried, he sat up and stared down Dustin. The elevator wouldn't go any faster, he might as well get some answers while they waited.

"So, you weren't kidding about the secret Russian base then?"

"No, of course not, why would I joke about something like that? Steve's in serious danger right now."

"Okay okay, I get it. So, when he's with you guys, are you always fighting evil Russians?"

"No, this is our first stint with Russians," Dustin explained. "Monsters and a parallel universe not so much."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, well, you weren't here when Will went missing, but it turns out he was trapped in this parallel world, the Upside-down…"

Dustin quickly explained everything that had happened to them and Harrington over the past three years. It would have been completely and utterly ridiculous and unbelievable, had it not been for the fact that it made so much sense. It was like the last piece of the Harrington puzzle that Billy had been looking forever since he had started dating him.

The elevator ground to a halt unsteadily and Dustin pressed the large red button. The doors screeched upwards a little too loudly for Billy's liking. Erica manned herself with two of the green liquid cylinders, and they all stepped out into the long artificially lit corridor.

"Where is he/" Billy demanded. He was becoming antsy, his mind running with all sorts of horrible torture methods that the Russians could be hurting Steve with. It made his blood boil and his skin itch with anger, much like what used to happen before he would lash out at somebody. He was ready for a fight.

Dustin and Erica led him easily through the neverending corridor. Luckily, they never once passed any Russian guards, despite the fact that Billy kind of wanted to see one, just to punch him in the face and demand to know where they were keeping Steve.

The end of the corridor forked off into three different directions: directly ahead was a door, a flashing red light and, from what Billy could see, lot and lots of armed Russian men running about. The left was seemingly a dark corridor that led into nothing but an abyss, and the right was more of the same corridor they had come down.

"Which way then?" Dustin hesitated for a moment, examining each corridor, before pointing to the left one.

"Yeah, yeah I remember it now. We went through that door, Steve attacked one of the guards and won, then we got caught trying to get out. I remember seeing an empty room, they could be in there."

"You don't actually know where he is!" Billy demanded. Dustin shrunk back, a little afraid.

"Well, no, not exactly, but it's a big place."

"We'll have to split up," Erica announced.

"Are you shitting me?" Dustin squeaked. "We'll die down here."

"I dunno about you, but I'm armed and ready."

Billy was suddenly very, very impatient. "Fine, fine. I'll go to the left, you two go to the right. No-one goes through that door, it looks armed to the teeth. Don't get yourselves killed."

Billy started his march down the dark corridor, with nothing to use as a weapon except for his broiling anger and his iron fists. Once out of the darkness of the hall, a cold blue glow from lights above each door flitted ominously. Peering through the glass on each door, he was greeted with nothing but empty hospital-esque rooms. Every empty room made him that little bit more anxious. He had never before felt this afraid for another person before. What was he supposed to do if he found him? What if he was already too late, and him and his friend had already been..?

Chattering came from one of the doors to his right. Muffled Russian shouting. He practically threw himself at the door.

It was another one of those hospital rooms, practically identical to the rest. Medical instruments sat idly on a tray. A man in a white lab coat, holding what Billy could only see as a very pointy knife, stood next to a very large Russian man. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he shouted down at somebody Billy had to twist his neck to see.

Steve.

He was slumped down in a chair, tied up with his co-worker, who sat up straight agaisnt his back. The Russian grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head up. Billy's breath caught in his throat as the light shone onto his face, showing his swollen and closed black eye and all the blood and bruises across his face. He didn't look quite awake.

The man in the white coat stepped forward, brandishing his knife in one hand, a long needle in the other. Billy twisted the door handle frantically, but it wouldn't budge. His breathing was coming in short and rapid breaths, so much so that he began to fog up the glass pane. He kicked at the door, gaining the attention of the Russian man. He looked up at Billy, a sneer forming on his face. He pulled Steves head towards the door, and his one good eye widened when it saw Billy.

"Steve!" Billy shouted. He saw Steve mouth his name. Billy kicked and kicked and kicked at the door, but it wasn't budging. The Russian let out a gruff laugh and threw Steve's head back. Billy watched it lull limply against the back of the girl's neck.

"Steve! Steve! Open the fucking door you pieces of shit, lemme in!" In a sudden fit of rage, Billy lifted his arm up and stuck his elbow through the glass. The glass shattered and pain reverberated up his arm like a jolt of electricity. He swore under his breath.

"What are you doing, bastard!" The Russian man shouted in a heavy accent, taking his eyes off of Steve to storm up to the door. Once he was close enough, Billy gripped the man's collar in his fist and pulled him towards the door so their faces were inches apart.

"What have you done to him?!" Billy roared. When the man didn't reply he slammed his head forward and into the metal strip above the empty window. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The man didn't respond, instead, his lips curled up into a grim smile and Billy heard the click of the door unlocking.

"Come in and find out."

Billy didn't have time to react because the moment the door swung open, he was being shoved into the room by two soldiers who seemingly came out of nowhere. The force of two trained Russian army men shoving him forced him down onto his hands and knees in front of Steve's feet.

"What's going on" The girl tied up to Steve asked. The main Russian guy walked around to her side and backhanded her around the face.

"That is not your concern, suka."

Billy tried to stand, only to be greeted by a rude kick to his stomach, sending him toppling onto his side.

"Don't." Steve's voice was weak but the single word held so much weight for Billy. He could feel his heart crumbling to a fine powder.

"Don't? Ohhh, don't. Well okay then." Billy felt another kick to the stomach, then another. Being in that position brought back horrible memories of him being in a similar state, except in his bedroom, with his father leaning over him. Then, he didn't have anything to get up and fight for. Now, he had more than something. He had Steve. Spotting a large shard of glass on the floor, he outstretched his hand and curled his fingers around it, pressing it tight enough into his palm that it started to sting. When the soldier hauled Billy into a sitting position by his armpits, Billy took the opportunity and slashed the glass across the guard's eye. He screamed and fell backwards, both hands clutching at his bloody eye. The other guard began shouting down a mic in Russian, but Billy stopped him quickly by wrapping his arm around the neck and plunging the glass shard into his abdomen. The man gurgled a cry of pain out and Billy shoved him away in disgust. The doctor lunged forward, ready to jab his long-ass needle into the side of Billy's neck. Steve stuck a leg out limply, and the doctor went crashing down. Billy pressed down into the back of his neck, ready to snap it clean when a hand touched his arm gently. All the anger Billy felt went away immediately and Billy turned to look down at his beautiful, beaten up boyfriend.

"Steve," he said softly, the taste of his first name still new and exciting on his tongue.

"Hey, Billy."

Billy felt the beginnings of the prick of a needle in his ankle and crushed down on the back of the doctor's neck, silencing him. The only one left stood next to the girl, watching Billy in surprise.

"You," he said, pointing a fat finger at him. "You are very good. We could use somebody like you here."

"Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that offer. But if you don't mind, me and my friends will be leaving now."

He chuckled and shook his head. Billy placed a protective hand on Steve's shoulder.

"No, no I don't think so." He bent down and cut the rope binding Steve and the girl. As soon as it fell Billy helped Steve up and pushed him behind him carefully. Steve clenched a fist in the back of Billy's t-shirt, keeping him close.

"Robin," Steve hissed. The girl, Robin, tried to get up, but the man shoved her back down in her chair. He walked menacingly slowly over to the tray table full of surgical equipment, and picked up the most violent looking one, twiddling it in between two fingers.

"You have nerve, boy, to come in here and think you can take what you want." He reached and grabbed Steve by the scruff of his neck and pulled him away from Billy too quickly for Billy to even comprehend. He pressed the utensil against the nape of his neck.

"Now, you cooperate, or he dies." Billy, trembling slightly with fear, slowly lifted his hands up in surrender. Steve was breathing heavily, his eyes filled with tears, swallowing hard to keep them from spilling down his cheeks. The girl, Robin, stood at the far end of the room, casting anxious glances between Billy and Steve. Billy noticed a piece of the cut string clenched tightly in her fist, hidden behind her back. The Russian stepped sideways, pulling Steve along with him. He tried to struggle, but the blade pressed harder into his throat, spots of blood bursting from the skin. Billy had to stop himself from lunging at Steve and pulling him away, but he couldn't trust that he would be fast enough to stop the man from slitting his throat.

"Listen, Sir," Billy cringed at his use of the word. This was too familiar, he wasn't going to be able to hold up against this pressure. He was going to let Steve down. "I don't want no trouble. Just let him go. We'll walk outta here, won't say a word 'bout this to no one. Please." His pride meant nothing to him anymore. He'd get on his knees and beg until he lost his voice if it meant saving Steve.

The man raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Well in that case," He brought the knife down from Steve's neck and Billy felt every muscle in his body relax. But then he plunged it into Steve's side before yanking it back out and pushing him away. Steve, unable to hold himself up, collapsed into Billy's arms. He stumbled back a little bit under the force of Steve's weight. A weak arm wrapped around Billy's back.

"Hey, hey. It's alright. I've got you, I've got you." Billy whispered.

"Is he alright?" He heard Robin ask. Billy placed an unsteady hand over the puncture wound. He could feel the slick of blood against his palm. It made him nauseous.

"I…I don't fucking know."

The Russian leant back on his heels. "Judging from the angle of the edge and the depth in which it entered the boy's body, I give him ten minutes, fifteen if he is lucky."

Billy carefully untangled Steve's arm from him and gently brought him into Robin's arms. She heaved under the weight but managed to keep him afloat. Billy felt an ache like his heart pulling in several different directions. Steve groaned against Robin's shoulder. Billy took the rope discreetly out of her hand from the side, out of eye-line of the Guard.

"Keep pressure on the wound. Don't let go." Then he turned on the guard, surprisingly, for what Billy was about to do to him. With a loud, guttural cry, releasing all the pent up pain and anguish he felt, he charged on the guard. First knocking the knife out of his hand, then wrapped the rope around his neck. The guard gurgled and grappled, batting at Billy's hand in futile.

"Go!" Billy shouted back at Robin. "Find the kids!"

Robin got the door open and half carried, half dragged out the corridor and out of sight. Billy couldn't let himself breathe, knowing the copious amount of armed guards fucking everywhere. But he had to focus on himself right now, worry about Steve and Robin after. He pressed his foot into the guards back and shoved him forward, keeping his neck entangled with the rope. The guard fell forward, choking and pulling desperately on the string, but it was pressed deep into his neck. Billy kicked the back of his knees, sending him down. He stepped in front of him and couched down to look the guard in the eyes. Picking the recently dropped knife of the ground and pressed the tip against his forehead.

"This is for hurting him," Billy whispered. He dug the tip into his head, not registering his screams. He dragged the knife down his head, over the bridge of his nose and across his lips, creating a deep red line down the middle of his face. He felt sick. "This is for touching him." He turned away from the man, squeezed his eyes shut, and brought the knife down as hard as he possibly could.

Once the man stopped squirming, stopped breathing, Billy finally stood up and left the room. He found Robin, Dustin, Erica, and Steve all huddled in the elevator. Steve was slumped against Robins front. Billy slid into the elevator and Dustin slammed the button, closing the doors.

"Is he okay he doesn't look good we should get him to a hospital oh god oh my god shit shi-" Dustin panted before Erica clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. Robin pushed Steve off of her and Billy replaced her. He was still awake, breathing slowly and weakly. Billy kept one hand against his wound, and the other took Steve's hand comfortingly. Steve's head lolled backwards onto Billy's shoulder.

"Billy," he said weakly. Billy looked up and saw that the other three were occupying themselves on the opposite side of the room. Billy leant down and pressed a tender kiss to his forehead.

"Hey, baby. How are you feeling?" He said quietly, just loud enough for Steve to hear.

"Peachy." A beat of silence. "You came for me."

"Of course I did."

"How did you… find me?"

Billy squeezed his hand gently, pressing his cheek into Steve's matted hair. "Well, your children showed up at my door, screaming about Russian's and elevators. You have a lot to explain mister. Once we get you to a Hospital, safe."

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"What-what for?"

"Not telling you… about everything. I lied… I didn't want you to get sucked up into, into all of this."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I understand. But I'm part of it now."

**Author's Note:**

> Leave suggestions for more Oneshot ideas! Hope you enjoyed :)


End file.
